I hope you still have your Bibles
open. You can leave them open to Song of Solomon, chapter five.
I've titled the message this morning, Who is Your Beloved? This is the question that's asked
to the bride in verse eight of Song of Solomon five. I charge
you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell
him that I am sick of love. And then they ask her, what is
thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among
women, what is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou
dost so charge us? Now the bride here is looking
for her beloved. And she tells everybody that'll
listen to her, if you find my beloved, tell him I'm looking
for him. Tell him I'm sick of love for
him. And really that is better translated,
I am sick with love for him. If you've been around very long
at all, you know exactly what that feeling of being sick of
love is, don't you? I remember when Janet and I were
children, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, I was sick
of love. I just, oh, my stomach, my heart,
my body just, oh, to be with, I just wanted to be with her
again. Very soon we'll be married 37 years. And if I'm out of town
preaching or out of town somewhere, It doesn't take very long. I'm
sick of loving you. I just, oh, I cannot wait to
get home, be with my beloved. That's what she's saying. I'm
sick of love. He's come to my door. Oh, I told
him I was too tired to get up and let him in. Now I'm looking
for him. I'm sick of love. And the other
women ask her, what's so special? about your beloved? I mean, why
are you making such a big deal of your beloved? There are lots
of men around to choose from. What makes this man so special
that you're sick of love for him and only him? What makes
your beloved better than any other beloved? You know, if you're
a believer, more than likely you've been asked a question
very similar to that. Why is it so important to go to that
particular church? There are so many churches, you
drive by a dozen churches to get there. What's so special
about that place? Why is it so important to you
that you hear a specific Christ preach? Not just any Jesus, but
that specific, why is that so important to you? I mean, there's
so many denominations out there. Can't you just go any old place?
I mean, they all sing hymns, they all read the Bible, they
all pray, they all go through all these things. What's the
big difference? Well, is there a difference to you? Now, I ask
each of us this morning, I ask myself and I ask you, who is
your beloved? Who is it? You know, we're all
trusting, every human being trusts our soul to something or someone. We all do. Maybe someone is trusting
their beloved good works. They're just, oh, they love those
good works. You know, they're so proud of them, they want to
present them to God. Maybe they're trusting the beloved
idol that they've made up. They just made him up of their
own imagination. You know, they think, well, God
must be like this. So that's, you know, what I'm gonna trust
in. It doesn't match the way God describes himself in his
word, but you know, this is a beloved idol. I made him up. I've been
trusting him a long time. Maybe they're trusting beloved
emotion. They're trusting God's just too emotional to damn them. He's just so emotional, you know,
he'll overlook all my faults. No matter what it is, everybody's
got a beloved. Everybody's trusting in something.
But I'm not talking to everybody this morning. It's you and me.
Who's my beloved? Who's your beloved? Well, this
morning I want to tell you about my beloved. The beloved Christ
that he's described in this book. And I promise you this, if you
ever see him, you won't settle for any other beloved. You won't
settle for anybody but Him. Here's the first thing about
my beloved. He's my righteousness. In verse 10, the bride says,
my beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among 10,000. Christ
my beloved is white, He's holy. Such a bright holiness, no man
can approach unto Him. He's holy because He's God. He's
a man. but he's God. I know he's a man
because he's also ruddy. The word means red. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he's a real man. A real man. God manifests in
the flesh. You are the first man, Adam.
You know what his name means? It means red. Ruddy, like this
word here. Adam was a real man. God created
that real man. He created him to be the representative
of his whole race. All of the human race. Now since
Adam is our representative, all of us did what Adam did. We stood in innocence before
God as long as Adam did. But the moment Adam sinned, we
all sinned in him. When Adam sinned, Adam died. Spiritually, he died and we all
died in him. That's the reason that we sin
today. That's the reason we commit sin
today. It's because we died in Adam. We have a dead spiritual
nature. When Adam sinned and became guilty,
So did we, because he's our representative. Well, there's a second man, the
second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's ruddy, he's white, and he's
ruddy, he's a real man. The father prepared a human body
for him. He said, a body has thou prepared
me. Christ came in the flesh to be
the representative of his race, God's elect, that's his race.
And all of God's elect, God put them in for the Father, put them
in Christ, and they all did what Christ did. When Christ obeyed
the law, so did all of his people. See, our righteousness, the righteousness
we plead before God is that we obey the law in Christ. When
he obeyed the law, so did I. He is my righteousness. He didn't
just give me a righteousness like he gave me, you know, a
legal piece of paper that says I've got a righteousness. He is my righteousness. He is
my righteousness. But now with God's leg, when
they're born in this world, they're born a son of Adam, aren't they?
Just like every other son of Adam, we're born sinners. And in order to be perfectly
righteous, that sin's got to be put away. It's got to be gone. So Christ, my beloved, you know
what he did? He took the sin of his people
away from them, and he made it his. He took it into his own
body on the tree, and by the blood of his sacrifice, he made
that sin to not exist. See, that red means he was a
real man. Since he's a real man, he had red blood, didn't he?
He had perfect, sinless blood, precious blood, the blood of
the God-man that could put away the sin of his people. That's
my beloved. He's white, and he's ruddy. And verse 16 says, this is my
beloved, and this is my friend. This is my friend. The Lord Jesus
Christ is such a good friend that he made his people the righteousness
of God in him. He was made sin for his people,
and by his suffering and death, he put their sin away. They have
no sin, so they're the righteousness of God in him. Christ bore the
curse of sin for his people so they can never die. because He
made them sinless. Christ my beloved, He is my righteousness. You know what He did? He made
His people just like Him. He made His people to be what
He is, righteous and holy, spotless before God. Now what is my beloved
more than another? Nobody else would do for me what
He did for me. nobody else would do for sinners
what he does for sinners. There isn't any like him. That's
why the bride calls Christ the chiefest among 10,000. And that's
just a exact number that represents an infinite number. The chiefest
among 10,000. He's higher than everyone else. Oh, you talk about earthly kings,
he's king of kings. You talk about lords that have
power on earth, he's the Lord of lords. He's the ruler of everything. He's the only potentate. That's
his name. If you find that in scripture
with a capital P, that's his name. He's the only potentate.
He's the head of all things to the church. He's the chief shepherd. He's the great physician of our
soul. He's the bright and the morning star of all the other
stars in the sky. He's the bright morning star.
He's so bright. His brightness outshines them
all. There's none can be compared to him. Now, no one else could
be all that to his people. That's my beloved. And it's the
only beloved I ever, I want. Well, here's the second thing.
Christ, my beloved, he's the sovereign savior. Verse 11 says,
his head is his most fine gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. And when the bride talks about
her head, she talks about Christ's head, being of most fine gold. What she's talking about is he's
wearing a golden crown. He's king of kings. Her beloved
is king. And you know, all of us would
like to have friends in high places, wouldn't we? Help you
cut through red tape and things you gotta do. You got a friend
in high places, they got power to help you. Well, my beloved,
he's king of kings. He's lord of lords. Everything
that exists, everything, is under his direct power. Brother John
Chapman said one time, the Lord is in control everywhere there's
a where. He's in control. And this king,
he has purposed, he's given a royal decree to save his people from
their sin. And he sealed that decree in
his blood. Now, there's no need for us to
worry. Nothing can stop his purpose.
Nothing will stop his purpose to save his people from their
sin because he's king. And that kingship, that reign,
will never cease. Look over at Revelation chapter
one, the passage we read to open the surface. Revelation chapter
one. In Song of Solomon, the bride sees his hair as black,
thick and bushy. That's his youth and his strength. Look at Revelation 1 verse 14,
here's how John saw him. His head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow. Well now wait a minute, I thought
his hair was black and bushy. John sees it white, white as
snow. What's going on here? It's both. His hair is both black and bushy
and white as snow. My beloved is eternally young.
You see, John saw the ancient of days, and the ancient of days
is eternally young. He never changes. His will never
changes. His love never changes. My salvation
is eternal because my beloved is eternal. He's eternally young. He'll never change. I tell you,
I don't want anybody else but him. No one but my beloved would
use his sovereign power and will to save the likes of me. But
he did. That's my beloved. All right,
here's the third thing. Christ, my beloved, sees everything
just as it is. Verse 12. His eyes were as the
eyes of doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly
set. My beloved, his eyes are as the
eyes of doves. They're washed with milk. They're
clear eyes. They see everything as it is.
And his eyes are fitly set. They're just in the right place
in his head to be able to see all around, to be all seen. My beloved sees everything as
it is. My beloved saw me in Adam. He saw me dead and depraved,
black with my sin. He saw that. But my beloved wouldn't
let me stay in that condition. Seeing me as I am in Adam, that
didn't make him run from me. No, that made him come where
I am and wash me white as snow in his precious blood. And his
eyes are as the eyes of a dove by the rivers of waters. That's
talking about the way he sees me, what he's made me in himself.
He's washed me white. He made me clean. You know how
Christ my beloved sees me? He doesn't see me as I am. He
doesn't see me as I am in Adam. He sees me as what he made me,
washed in his blood. We'll look back at Revelation
chapter one again. In verse 14, John begins by describing
his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as the flame of fire. Now, wait a minute. I thought his eyes were soft,
kind, clear eyes. The eyes of a dove washed with
milk, I thought these were mild eyes. John sees his eyes as flames
of fire. Which is it? It's both. It's both. What John saw were
fiery eyes of judgment against sin. God's all-seeing eye, those
eyes that are fitly set to all-seeing eye, his eye sees all of my sin. All of it. Every last thing,
he sees my original sin and Adam, He sees my own sin of commission,
my sin of omission, my sin of thought, my sin of word, my sin
of deed, my sin of attitude. He sees all my sin. And when
it was time to make Christ sin for me, the father didn't miss
one. He saw them all and put them
all on his son. And Christ, my beloved, cleansed
all of my sin. But he died as my substitute. And now I'm sinless. I'm sinless
because Christ died for me so that my sin is gone. Now I have to confess, this is
true, this is true of you too. I don't see myself as sinless,
do you? When I look at myself, all I see is sin. But my beloved
sees me as sinless. And that's all that matters.
The only thing that matters is the way God sees me. God sees
me as I really am. He sees me as sinless and pure
because that's what my beloved made me. And when he looks at
me, all I see are those eyes of a dove. Peaceful eyes. Eyes that he looks at me with
gentle love in his eyes. You know, they say eyes are the
windows to the soul, aren't they? Those gentle loving eyes are
the window to his soul. He loves the likes of me. He
loves you. He loves his people. Nobody else
would look at somebody that way. Only my beloved. That's why I
must have him, not any other beloved. A counterfeit won't
do, will it? You can tell a counterfeit by
looking in his eyes. No, I need him. This is my beloved
that I need. Then back in our text, fourthly,
my beloved is a man's man. Verse 13, his cheeks are as a
bed of spices, his sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping
sweet, smelly myrrh. Every believer, excuse me, every
woman wants to be married to a real man. I mean, that's what
women are looking for. They want to be married to a
real man, a man who's strong enough to provide for her. Protect
her and care for her. And loving enough to do it gently.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our bridegroom. My beloved
is my bridegroom. John Gill says, his cheeks is
a bed of spices. Gill says that means he has a
full-grown beard. I was in Collegeville last week,
and one of the men came up to me and said, he said, Frank,
you've got a good beard. But your beard cannot compare
to our pastor's. If you haven't seen Mike in a
while, he's got a beard down to here. I mean, it's thick and perfect
beard. Who's trying to compete with
Mike? Nobody can have a beard like that, you know? Oh, but
a full-grown man. Mike must be a full-grown man.
You gotta be a full-grown man to have a beard like that. Christ
my beloved is a full-grown man. He's the man. Pilate didn't know
it, but he was saying the truth. He said, behold the man. He's
the man. You see, when it came to this
job of redeeming his people from their sin, the father did not
send a boy to do a man's job. He sent a man. He sent a man
to do a man's job. He sent a man who's got the strength
and the love to do the job right, to redeem his bride from her
sin. And this man, Oh, he makes everything
smell good, too. He is his own perfume. He doesn't
need to spray any on. He's his own perfume. His blood
makes everything smell good, doesn't it? You know, a woman
laying her head down on this beard, it's like lying down on
a bed of sweet spices. Solomon says here that sweet
flowers That literally translated is towers, towers of perfumed
flowers. Everything my beloved touches
just smells good. I mean, my beloved is every woman's
dream. I mean, he looks the part. You
know, you've seen men, sons of Adam, they look the part, don't
they? I mean, boy, they're chiseled,
they're tall, they're strong, they look the part. And then
they open their mouth and like, oh, no, they're not my beloved. When he opens his mouth, his
lips are like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. The words
of his mouth, that's the gospel. It's his word, his written word.
His lips are the sweet words of comfort that he gives to his
people. They're words of grace, grace poured from his lips, just
like honey drips from the honeycomb. You pick up a honeycomb down
there in that honey and it all runs out. That's the lips of
my beloved. This grace pouring forth from
his lips. Words of forgiveness. Words of
peace. Words of assurance. Words of
comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Tell her her warfare is accomplished. I'll take care of everything.
Don't you worry about a thing. Now that's the way a woman likes
to be talked to. And that's the way this poor sinner needs to
hear from God. I need to hear directly from him because nobody
else will talk to me that way. You got all these other so-called
beloveds around, you'll find that the law is harsh and mean. The self-righteous, they're hard
and they're mean. Only my beloved talks to his
bride this way so that when he talks, honey just drips from
his lips. That's the only beloved I want.
I won't settle for anything less. Then fifth, everything that my
beloved does is precious. Verse 14 says his hands are as
gold rings set with beryl. The bride sees the hands of her
beloved covered with gold. There's a big gold ring on every
finger. And that tells me several things
about my beloved. First, this tells me everything
is in his hand to do with as he pleases. Our Lord said, John
3, verse 35, the father loveth the son. and has put all things
into his hand. Everything that's in creation,
everything that's in heaven and earth and hell, everything belongs
to my beloved. He's the king that owns it all.
And you know what he's doing with all those things in his
hand? He's working them all after the counsel of his own will.
He's doing exactly what he pleases with, because he's king. Second,
those gold hands of my beloved, That tells me everything he does
is golden. It's right and good. Do you know
my beloved created everything with his hand? He created everything.
Actually, he just spoke, but you know I'm talking about it.
Psalm 95 verse five says, the sea is his, he made it, and his
hands formed the dry land. He created everything. And the
Lord finished with creation, and he stopped to look at everything
he created. You know what he saw? God saw everything that
he made, and behold, it was very good. You read the story of creation
in Genesis 1, at the end of every day, it was good, and it was
good, and it was good. At the end of the sixth day,
God looked at it all, he said, it was very good. Everything
he does is still very good. It's not just good, it's very
good. It can't be better. Everything
our God does is perfect. And He's doing according to His
will. It's all good, isn't it? He's working all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. And third, the gold hands of
my beloved tells me everything He does is precious. Precious
is gold. My beloved, reaches out his hand,
that hand that owns everything, that holds everything, that disposes
of everything and gives to his people graciously, richly and
freely. He gives grace and more grace
and more grace and more grace and more grace. And then he gives
the riches of his mercy. My beloved is so generous, he
reaches out those golden hands and he gives so generously and
richly to his people Every believer says with David, my cup runs
over. That's not just David, that's you too, if you trust
Christ. The hands of my beloved are precious
hands. And Gary read to us there early
in the chapter, the bridegroom comes to the bride, she says,
oh, I'm too tired to get up, I've already washed my feet,
I've got myself in bed, you know, I'm too tired to get up. All
he had to do is stir her heart, and stick his hand in the hole
in the door. Oh, it's a precious hand. My beloved heals with just
a touch of his hand. Remember that leper that came
to our Lord, said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying, I will
be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
clean. Just a touch of his hand. My beloved keeps his people from
falling away from him with his mighty hand. Psalm 37, verse
24, David's talking about the righteous, and he says, though
he fall, he should not be utterly cast down. He'll not fall completely
away from the Lord, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
No man is able to pluck them out of my hand, the Savior said.
And then the Savior gave his hands to be crucified, to be
nailed to the tree so that he could be the sacrifice for the
sin of his people. And he was successful when he
did it. You know, that's what comforted his people. When he
rose from the dead, he showed them his hands and his feet. These are the hands and the feet
that were nailed to the tree. So I'd be crucified for you.
Now I've risen from the dead. That tells you I got the job
done. 700 years before Christ was born
in the flesh, this is what Isaiah wrote. It pleased the Lord to
bruise him. He hath put him to grief When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Everything in him that the Father
gave him is gonna prosper because of his sacrifice. Now who's my
beloved? This is my beloved. I don't want
any other beloved. No, I don't want to have anyone
but him. I don't want to be held any by his hand but his. Then my beloved, he's beautiful
inside and out. The end of verse 14 says, his
belly is as bright ivory, overlaid with sapphire. Now, Psalm here
talks about his belly. He's talking about his heart.
He's talking about the bowels of mercy of my beloved. You know,
the Savior feels compassion for his people. He feels compassion
for them. He feels love for them. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. It was his love for his people that moved him to
be sacrificed for thee. And his love is as bright as
ivory, and it's as strong as ivory. And the bride, she sees
his vows of compassion, his innermost being, it's ivory overlaid with
sapphires. Now, I don't know what you could
sell that for, but it sounds pretty valuable to me. Ivory
overlaid with sapphires. This is speaking of Christ's
love, His bowels of compassion for His people. There's just
no telling the value of Christ's love for His people. I mean,
you think of that, isn't it? If Almighty God loves you, what's
the value of that? If He loves you, He's loved you
with a strong, eternal, electing love that caused Him to choose
to save you because He set His love upon you. It's His redeeming
love that moved Him to lay down His life for His friends. It's
His life-giving love that would cause Him to die so His bride
could live. It's His calling love. Oh, I've
loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn you. It's His calling love. It's his
keeping love that though we stumble and fall, he uses that mighty
hand, he won't let us fall away. Oh, to the bride, that's precious
love. Precious love. I can't live without
it. Can't live without it. His love
is the immutable, everlasting love of God for his people. And
human words can't express how precious that is. It's the only
way my soul can live. Now that's my beloved. And I
don't want any other so-called love from any other so-called
beloved. No, I need his love. I need this genuine love. Seventh,
my beloved, he's strong. Verse 15 says, his legs are as
pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. My beloved stands
strong. His legs are as pillars of marble. My beloved is the only one who
can bear the weight and the burden, the curse of the sin of his people
and not be crushed by it. My sin alone would crush me.
He bore the sin of a number no man can number and stood strong,
could not be crushed. My beloved is that shepherd who
goes out and finds that lost sheep. He picks it up, puts it
on his shoulders, and carries it home. Jonathan, I never have to worry.
He's going to get tired of carrying me and set me down and let me
wander off again. No, he's strong enough to carry
my dead weight all the way to glory. Oh, I'm thankful he's
made himself my beloved. This is the beloved I need. And
then last, my beloved, he's altogether lovely. His legs are as pillars
of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is
as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he's altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of
Jerusalem. My beloved, he's as tall and
stately as the cedars of Lebanon. You know, scriptures, when it
talks about something impressive, always talk about the cedars
of Lebanon. I mean, those, they must have been impressive. The
cedars of Lebanon. My beloved is tall, straightly,
like those straight, like the stately, like those cedars of
Lebanon. And the bride, she can't quit. She's got to talk about
his mouth again, because his word is so important. This word
is the foundation of everything we believe. You have no right
to have any peace or comfort for your soul. You have no right
of any hope of expectation without believing this word. It's just
vitally important. There's life in this word. There's
life nowhere else. But that's not a mean, hard thing
to say. This word is sweet. She talks
about being so sweet to her soul. This is the myrrh falling from
these precious flowers. His mouth is most sweet. The
words of his mouth are so sweet. The kisses of his mouth are so
sweet. The gospel, oh, that's just a sweet sound. That's a
sweet sound to a needy sinner. Now in case I've left anything
out, you think about any other attribute of my beloved. If you
think of something that I haven't mentioned, let me tell you, it's
lovely too. She said he's altogether lovely. We just exhaust our time on earth
talking about all the different attributes of my Savior. But
just let me sum it up by saying this. He's altogether lovely. Oh, this is my beloved. And I
want Him to be your beloved too. That's why I preach Him to you.
I want Him to be your beloved too. I want you to find this
love and this peace, this rest that can only be found in my
beloved. And if He's ever pleased to reveal Himself to you, As
long as God gives me the strength to do it, it is my intention
to preach Christ to you. And I'll know if he's been pleased
to reveal himself to you or not. There's one way a person reacts
if my beloved ever reveals himself to you. Let me show you Revelation
chapter one. You know, just remember that
I know that John is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
here. But the Lord didn't take the personality, the man, out
of this. This is the Apostle John. This
is the beloved apostle who felt so comfortable with the Lord,
he laid his head on his breast at the table, at the dinner.
This is the, you know, when the disciples wanna know, you know,
something, they motion to John, you know, you ask the Lord, because
this is the beloved apostle. He has such a close, loving relationship
with the Savior. That's who's writing here. Look
what he says in verse 16. And he had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.
And his countenance was as the sun, shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I ran up and said, hey, buddy. I ran up
and said, this Jesus, I, no. When I saw him, I fell at his
feet as dead. I fell down at his feet and worshiped
him. All the strength, was taken out of me when I saw him, so
that I fell at his feet. And he laid his right hand, there's
that hand, he laid his right hand upon me saying, fear not,
I'm the first and the last, I'm he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. If the Lord ever reveals himself
to you and me, we'll do exactly what John did. We'll fall at
his feet as dead, and he won't leave us there. He'll lay his
hand on you. Fear not. Fear not. There's no reason to fear. Everything
that you would have any reason to fear, I put it away by my
death. Now fear not. That's my beloved. Now why do we make such an issue
of him? Why do we not have all these
other shenanigans going on and things that would appeal to the
flesh to draw people? Why do we make such an issue
of Him? Because He's my beloved. He's my beloved. Oh, God be pleased
to reveal Him to us. Let's bow together. Our Father,
who is with all, and utter amazement that we consider this passage
that we just looked into to see our beloved, the Savior who loved
us and gave himself for us. Oh, Father, how we thank you.
How we thank you that he would join himself to the likes of
us, that we would be his bride. Father, I pray that you'd use
your word as it's been preached this morning to glorify our Savior.
that we would see the glory of Christ, that we would see his
beauty, and that we'd run to him, cling to him, to find him
to be everything that we need. Father, give us faith in him. Reach your hand out on us this
morning and tell us, fear not, fear not. Father, it's in Christ's
name, for his sake and his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean.